Respectful Relationships initiative

Program description  

The Royal Commission into Family Violence identified the critical role that schools and early childhood education can play in creating a culture of respect to change the story of family violence for future generations. The royal commission recommended the introduction of respectful relationships education in every government school from prep to year 12, delivered through a whole-school approach.  

Victoria’s Respectful Relationships initiative is about building a culture of respect and gender equality across schools, and tackling the attitudes and behaviours that can lead to family violence and gendered violence. The initiative supports schools and early childhood settings to promote and model respect, positive attitudes and behaviours, and it teaches children how to build healthy relationships, resilience and confidence.  

More than 1,950 schools across Victoria are currently implementing the initiative. This includes all government schools, meeting the royal commission recommendation.  

Additional investment through the Strengthening Women’s Safety Package has supported the following developments:  

• Eight new Respectful Relationships project leads have been added to support government, Catholic and independent schools in high-demand areas. This brings the total Respectful Relationships workforce in local areas up to 25 project leads supporting schools to implement the whole-school approach and 17 liaison officers supporting schools to identify and respond to family violence.  
• Further opportunity has been created for Catholic and independent schools to sign up to the Respectful Relationships initiative.  
• The Modelling Respect and Equality program, delivered by Jesuit Social Services, has been expended in up to 240 primary and secondary schools to promote healthy masculinities in boys and young men.  
• New Respectful Relationships teaching and learning materials have been released. These have been developed in consultation with key stakeholders – including students, teachers and parents – to further support the delivery of respectful relationships and consent education, and meet the contemporary needs of students.  
• Fact sheets have been released for secondary school students, with tips on how to be safe online, what to do if they feel unsafe, and where to go for further support. Additional fact sheets released for parents and carers of primary and secondary aged students provide information about how to notice signs a child or young person might need support and where to turn if support is needed.  

Insights

The Department of Education Respectful Relationships regional workforce reflected in consultation that there is greater confidence and visibility of the Respectful Relationships initiative across Victorian schools, but there are also ongoing challenges. Representatives mentioned structural barriers for schools – such as competing priorities, teacher shortages, staff confidence and capability – and inconsistent implementation and fidelity to the model across schools. Resistance from some parents and school communities was also noted, particularly in relation to teaching content around gender norms, stereotypes, positive gender relations and content that is LGBTIQA+ inclusive. New Respectful Relationships resources, the mandate that all government schools teach consent education in an age-appropriate way from prep to year 12, the affirmative consent laws and the rollout of MARAM have helped schools to communicate the importance Respectful Relationships.

Evaluation of the Respectful Relationships initiative from 2017 shows that interactions between staff and students have become more respectful – with teachers taking more time to listen to students, respect their concerns and work with them to develop solutions – and students’ social and emotional skills having improved, including improved emotional literacy, attitudes and behaviours (104).  

Subsequent evaluation in 2019–21 found overall design of the Respectful Relationships initiative was working effectively, but there was significant variation in how schools across the state had engaged and there were barriers to implementation due to schools’ competing priorities, staff turnover and the effort required to maintain momentum and tailor delivery to different school contexts. It was also noted that for the anticipated benefits and outcomes of the initiative to be fully realised, further work was needed to build staff confidence in teaching topics pertaining to gender equality and gendered violence. Additional resourcing, professional learning and resources have been rolled out throughout the reporting period to address these challenges. Notably, the evaluation found improvements in school capability and culture as important precursors to broader outcomes for students and the community. This included school staff reporting positive changes in student behaviour, from improved engagement in discussions regarding respect through to increased skills in recognising and addressing disrespectful behaviour (105).

Respect Victoria understands a further evaluation was conducted during the reporting period, but at the time of writing it was not publicly available.